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Female fans normally know more facts about what’s going on than men do anyway. I’d say they’re a more intelligent fan on top of that. They normally know more about what we’ve done than we know about what we’ve done. --- Tony Stewart

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There are female fans who take apart engines and will take you apart if you have a problem with that; who are drawn to the danger and mystery of the sport; who watch races on TV to witness pure passion and unscripted emotion; who love the camaraderie of these family-friendly festivals; who feel the nervous anxiety of the lip-biting wives atop the pit boxes. --- Andrew Giangola “The Weekend Starts on Wednesday”

My mother hated drama. She was an
elementary school teacher, so she watched countless dramas unfold throughout her
workday. There was the girl who pitched a fit because she didn't get invited to
the slumber party of the year. There was the straight-A student who howled over
the B he received on a pop quiz. There was the athlete who caused a scene in front
of his friends when the coach refused to let him play because he’d missed
practice. She saw it all. And she spent much of her time trying to curb the
drama.

She would hate today's NASCAR. There’s
too much drama.

Of course, that’s by design.
Someone made the decision that the sport which rose to national acclaim because
of an on-track fistfight in 1979 didn't have enough drama. So in recent years, it's been redesigned -- again and again.

A driver won the championship
just by being consistent? Change the way the championship is decided.

A driver won the championship in
consecutive years? Change the number of drivers gunning for the title.

Still not happy? Force drivers
out of the title hunt after a few races and compete in a playoff-style format.
Make them desperate for every spot on the track. And watch tempers flare when
something doesn't go the way a driver thinks it should.

We've spent nearly a week talking
about the post-race melee at the AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Anybody
remember who won that race? In case you've forgotten, the current champion took
home the six-shooters in Victory Lane. Though many are riled at the mere mention
of his name, Jimmie Johnson is a champion who’s carried the banner well for this
sport for six years. ﻿﻿﻿﻿
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However, some fans have grown
weary of him and the other professional, articulate champions who represent
themselves, their sponsors and their sport with dignity and class. They’re the
drivers who execute well on and off the track because they've earned the respect
of their competitors. They’re skilled drivers who race one another with a cool
head. If they have an on-track incident, they discuss it calmly and move on. And
for their talents and their class, they’re ridiculed as boring and “vanilla.”

Just like in other sports,
there’s room for everyone. If you have a difference of opinion, that’s OK. One
of the great things about NASCAR is the community of its fans. Think about it.
When a fan attends any other sporting event, he’s generally relegated to one
side of the venue or another. At a NASCAR race, fans of all drivers sit
together … and get along. Maybe, from time-to-time, some of the drivers could try
to do that, too.

Hey, did I tell you that I went
to a NASCAR race last week and a hockey match broke out?